Plan: How will you keep the momentum going?
By Janeen Galligan, Partnership Engagement Specialist and Ana Hernandez, Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer at InScribe
This is part 4 of the 4 P's™ series. In case you missed it…part 1: purpose, part 2: placement, and part 3: people.
Plan - Create a plan to let your community members and moderators know about the community, its purpose, who is in it, and where to find it. Just like you do when you're hosting a party - you want to make sure your guests know all the important details! This is a great opportunity to be creative and tie back to your organization’s culture. Just like your students are constantly changing, your community should too.
Peer to Peer: Communicate with any folks who will be in charge of moderating the details of the community and how students will be accessing it. Once students have access, create a welcome post sharing the goal of the community and then step back. If you want them to talk, you have to let them talk.
Academic Support: Create a page in your LMS that explains the community's purpose, your rules of engagement, and invite them to create their first post. Communities with the most engagement allow learners to be their authentic selves and have a conversation about the material they are learning.
Information Sharing: Determine who should have access to create posts to share pertinent information with your community. Make sure they know it's available and provide training on how to create and archive posts, and create live sessions. Information sharing communities can get cluttered up quickly so a plan to keep things fresh and old content archived is essential.
Student Success: Work with your advisors or coaches to determine how they will add community participation and nurturing into their coaching plans. This is another opportunity to connect to the organization’s culture and to connect on a human level.
Whether you're just getting started or looking to breathe new life into an existing community, we hope the 4 P's™ — Purpose, Placement, People, and Plan — give you the foundation and inspiration to build a space where every learner feels seen, supported, and connected.
About the Authors
Janeen Galligan is an educator in higher education and a Partner Engagement Specialist at InScribe. Her mission is to lighten the load for her partners, allowing them to focus on what truly matters: ensuring every student feels seen. Janeen is dedicated to creating spaces where learners—regardless of their life stage—realize they are not alone in their academic journey. By fostering these deep connections, she helps build communities where belonging is the foundation for success.
Ana Hernandez began her career as a high school English teacher in Denver, CO. Now as a Latina entrepreneur in education technology, she is creating solutions that make educational opportunities more accessible and attainable for everyone. In 2014, she launched an education technology consulting company, which spawned a product company, InScribe, in 2017. She’s a Colorado native and avid runner who has completed eleven marathons, including the 2018 Boston Marathon, Ana is also the proud mother of a 15-year-old son and two badly behaved standard poodles.